When Letran head coach Bonnie Tan was being interviewed by the TV panel last November 19, Alfrancis Chua had a twinkle in his eye.
Finally, he can now call his xuéshēng (student) a laoshī (teacher).
“Pag tumatawag siya sa akin, ‘Coach, coach kailan na?’,” said Chua, who is Letran’s Special Assistant to the Rector for Sports Development, during Letran’s victory celebration last November 29.
“I told him last Monday (November 25), ‘Now, I can call you a coach.’ “
Tan and Chua have come a long way together.
Back in 1988, a then wide-eyed Tan was one of the players of Chua in Grace Christian High School, a Chinese school located in Quezon City. However, Tan and Chua separated ways as the former needed to find himself.
Tan would be the first to admit that he was not a straight-A student. He was quite the opposite and he needed to transfer from University of Santo Tomas to Southern New Hampshire University to find his way.
But he and Chua, who is seven years his senior, never lost touch with one another.
And when Tan returned, he continued what Chua left in Grace, eventually becoming the athletics director of the school.
“Every year, we still hold a basketball camp in Grace called Step One Basketball. We do that camp to give back to our alma mater,” said Tan.
“That’s our way of making sure that our students can see sports as one of their career paths just like me and Coach Al.”
Besides going back to Grace, Tan would handle Lyceum and be the manager of NorthPort Batang Pier. However, it took him two decades to earn his stripes from Chua.
It was not because Tan did not deserve it according to Chua but it was because he had to earn it.
“When I won three championships in the PBL back in 1995, Bobby Knight, the coach of Indiana, called me and he said, ‘Now, I can call you a coach.’ Sa kanya ako nag-seminar nun e,” said Chua, who is a seven-time champion in the PBL.
“Now, I am telling Bonnie na I can call him Coach Bonnie now.”
The journey of Tan may have been long and tough. Too long for some. But it ended up being all worth it as finally, he got his happy ending.
